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Saudi invests $2.4bn in DP World’s flagship UAE ports

By Gavin Gibbon
Creative Commons
Egyptian central bank dropped a requirement for importers to use letters of credit
  • 10.2% stake in Jebel Ali Port & Free Zone and National Industries Park
  • Investment implies a total enterprise value of around $23bn
  • DP World gross container volumes increased by 2.5% in Jan-Sept 2022

Saudi Arabia-based Hassana Investment Company has invested $2.4 billion in three of DP World’s flagship UAE assets.

The investment manager for the General Organisation for Social Insurance, which owns one of the largest pension funds in the world, Hassana has taken a minority stake in Jebel Ali Port, Jebel Ali Free Zone and National Industries Park.

The joint venture with DP World will see Hassana secure a 10.2 percent share in the three assets, with the investment implying a total enterprise value of approximately $23 billion.

The Jebel Ali Port, Free Zone and National Industries Park form an integrated ecosystem for the supply and logistics chains of more than 9,000 companies from around the world, serving more than 3.5 billion people globally. The three assets generated pro-forma 2021 revenue of $1.9 billion.

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO of DP World, said: “We believe this new partnership will serve to enhance our assets and allow us to capture the significant growth potential of the wider market.”

Dubai-based DP World handled 59.6 million TEU (20-foot equivalent units) across its global portfolio of container terminals in the first nine months of 2022, with gross container volumes increasing by 2.5 percent on a like-for-like basis.

Growth in the third quarter of 2022 was primarily driven by a solid performance across the company’s Asia Pacific, Americas and Australia terminal. Jebel Ali Port continued to deliver “robust” volumes with growth of two percent year-on-year.

Saad Bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadly, CEO of Hassana Investment Company, said: “Favourable demographics and macro-economic drivers and investment in transformational projects will continue to support growth momentum regionally, while trade between the emerging economies of Asia and Africa is also expected to thrive.”

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